6l45 Low Sprag on 2040-parts.com

CAR tech: why Porsche needs hybrids

At the launch of the 997-generation 911 Turbo in 2006, Porsche faced a daunting future. Anti-car chatter from EU legislators proposed banning anything that produced more than 241g/km of CO2 and exceeded 101mph. ‘We’ll have to close if the European Commission decides that every carmaker must reach [these targets],’ a Porsche exec told CAR.

Mercier-Jones Supercraft: the world’s fastest hovercraft

Claiming a “world first” is quite easy. Simply make an extremely niche vehicle, cram as many words into its description as possible, then you can claim pretty much anything. Take the Mercier-Jones Supercraft - “the world’s first luxury high-performance hovercraft”.

Alfa Romeo 4C convertible likely for 2015

Conventional wisdom holds that if you want to take on Porsche's 911, you need a convertible variant. And although Alfa Romeo's often marched to the beat of a wonderfully idiosyncratic drummer, it sounds as if it's hewing to general sporting-car rules of thumb with the 4C. According to a report in Britain's Autocar, sources have confirmed that a 4C convertible will follow the launch of the coupe by about a year.